Editing First Battle of Gaza (section)

===Mounted units reorganised===
A pause in the EEF's advance was necessary to enable the [[lines of communication]] to be lengthened and strengthened. While this work was being carried out, the mounted brigades were reorganised into two mounted divisions.<ref>Falls 1930 Vol. 1 pp. 272, 278</ref><ref>Bruce 2002 p. 88</ref> This was prompted by the arrival of the [[6th Mounted Brigade]] and [[22nd Mounted Brigade]] from the [[Macedonian front (World War I)|Salonika campaign]]. Instead of grouping the two new mounted brigades with the [[5th Mounted Brigade]] to form a new [[Imperial Mounted Division]], the [[3rd Light Horse Brigade]] was transferred from the [[Anzac Mounted Division]] to the new division, and replaced by the 22nd Mounted Brigade. The Imperial Mounted Division, established 12 February 1917 at Ferry Post on the Suez Canal under the command of [[Major General]] [[Henry West Hodgson]], was established with the 3rd Light Horse Brigade and [[4th Light Horse Brigade]] (which was in the process of formation at Ferry Post and was scheduled to leave for the front on 18 March) along with the 5th and 6th Mounted Brigades.<ref name="Bou162–3">Bou 2009, pp. 162–3</ref><ref name=IMDwdAWM4_1_56_1_1>Imperial Mounted Division War Diary AWM4-1-56-1 Part 1</ref><ref>3rd Light Horse Brigade War Diary AWM4-10-3-26</ref> Within Dobell's Eastern Force, General [[Philip Chetwode]] commanded the Desert Column, which included the Anzac Mounted Division, the partly formed Imperial Mounted Division, and the [[53rd (Welsh) Division]] of infantry.<ref name="Bruce92–3"/> After the 42nd (East Lancashire) Division left for the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]], Dobell's Eastern Force consisted of four infantry divisions; the [[52nd (Lowland) Division]], the [[53rd (Welsh) Division]], the [[54th (East Anglian) Division]] and the [[74th (Yeomanry) Division]], which had recently been formed by converting [[yeomanry]] regiments into infantry battalions.<ref name="Bruce92–3"/>